*BPOV*

Over the course of the next week, the nomads began to turn up to join our efforts. Peter & Charlotte came to support Jasper. Mary and Randall apparently traveled here separately but met on the road and had been inseparable ever since.

Garrett came with McKenna & Charles, a mated couple he'd met along the way as well.

So far, the only gifted one out of the nomads was Charles. He could sense when he was being lied to. It was a helpful gift, one that helped foster a sense of trust in a large group of unbonded vampires. And that was no easy feat in a species that is notoriously distrusting of others of our own kind.

As long as Charles was along for the ride, the other vampires could trust that our intentions were honorable. That we really did intend to liberate vampires from the overreaching control of the Volturi, not just replace them with a different and more powerful coven of authoritarian rulers.

We hadn't heard a word from Kendra, Pink, and the twins, which I felt a little guilty about. I knew I had a right to be angry about what (almost) happened with Ember and Edward. But they were my angry words that had driven them off, and now we were down by four allies and one very powerful gift.

Jasper didn't seem worried, not with Maisie on our side. So I tried to take solace in that. But it didn't sit well with me that there was a coven out there, one with ties to the Volturi, who knew what we were up to and weren't presently on our side.

I mulled that over as Edward animatedly spilled his guts about what he'd learned so far about our allies as we rode home from school. This had become something of a ritual because it was really the only chance we had to talk away from the prying ears of our guests.

School, by the way, was going a lot better after the Rocky Horror experience. We discovered that my appetite for blood was only one piece of the puzzle. If I was, shall we say, well-loved as well as being well-fed just before the start of my classes in the morning, it made me a lot less murdery.

That meant if Edward and I weren't either in class or actively training with the others, we were off hunting or…well, loving.

My Ducati easily carved through the midday traffic of the congested, scenic Highway 1, with Edward riding close behind. While it was true we could've saved gas and taken one bike to our shared destination, neither one of us wanted to ride on the back, and thus, we rode separately.

"...Now, Garrett is an interesting study," Edward prattled on in a fascinated voice.

Garrett was tall, dark, and shaggy. One of the more outgoing vampires of the lot. He had a cocksure smirk and a story for every occasion. Usually about some battle he had fought in or an enemy he had vanquished.

Garrett had been immediately taken with Kate, especially after hearing about her ability.

After poking around in Garrett's head, Edward had shared that Garrett was a man who could appreciate a challenge. And Kate was a woman who literally couldn't be touched without her willing it so.

"Kate's beauty and dry wit were reason enough for Garrett to pursue her, but it was her gift that made her irresistible to him. He wants the woman that only he is permitted to touch," Edward shared in an almost admiring voice that made it seem like he could relate.

"You really are such a gossip. You're worse than Charlie," I teased over the whine of my accelerator as I swerved into a narrow gap in the cars in the next lane.

"I am not!" he insisted, cutting off a blue sedan in an effort to keep up with me. "I take pride in being a vault of personal information and long-held secrets, thankyouverymuch!" Edward argued haughtily. In my side-view mirror, I saw him shake his helmeted head at me.

Then he went on to explain, "You're the only person I tell these things to because my most absolute rule is that I don't keep things from my wife," he said, sounding a bit smug.

"Since when?" I half-shrieked in a voice that was an octave higher than my regular speaking voice.

*EPOV*

"Since when?" Bella crowed shrilly.

"Ouch." I winced in response to her quip and followed her onto the freeway exit that was nearest to home. Though, looking back, Bella had more than enough justification for saying it. In the past, I'd kept lots of things from her. But it still stung to hear nonetheless.

Sensing that she'd hurt my feelings, Bella started to backpedal.

"Edward, I–"

"Don't do that," I cut her off in a stern voice. "Never stop holding me accountable for my mistakes, Bella," I told her earnestly. Then in a soft, solemn voice, I continued, "It's the only way I'll learn to be the partner you deserve."

*BPOV*

I wished for so many things in that moment. I wished that we had taken one of the cars instead of our bikes. I wished I didn't have my stupid helmet on so I could smile at him. And mostly, I wished Charlie could have heard that.

Edward may not have been the most age-appropriate as far as high school boyfriends went. But that's one of the reasons I loved him so much. How many boys my age would ask, no, demand to be held accountable for the things they did wrong or concern themselves with being a better partner?

I knew the truth. None of them would. None of them could love me like Edward could. A dark voice in the recesses of my subconscious reminded me that Edward's love for me was unconditional in a way that not even my mother's was.

Maybe that's what made him so irresistible to me in the first place, I reflected. Maybe that's what made it possible for me to replace her the way that I had.

In a weird way, I was sort of thankful for Renee's shortcomings. If she hadn't left such a deep, aching void that I was so desperate to fill, I don't think I would have ever gotten to love Edward.

Probably wouldn't have even gotten to meet him, because if Renee wasn't Renee, there would've been no need for me to pack up and move to Forks to begin with…

"Bella? Bella. Earth to Bella." Edward's impatient voice interrupted my quiet self-reflection as we pulled our bikes into the garage and parked them side by side. Fluorescent light flooded my field of vision then as Edward pulled my helmet up and off with a swift tug.

"Sorry," I laughed once a little awkwardly, tucking a wayward strand of hair behind my ear. "Were you trying to get my attention? I was a little…absorbed," I smiled sheepishly, hoping he didn't think I hadn't been listening to him.

Edward's expression softened as he raised his hand to cup my cheek. His buttery eyes searched mine for the cause of my wandering thoughts and he gave me a pleading look, silently asking for admittance.

"It's nothing, really. I was just thinking of…Renee," I told him vaguely. Edward's brows shot up in surprise, then knit together with concern. His mouth opened, but no words came out as he struggled for the right words to say.

Her name was one I hadn't uttered since I let her go months ago because the guilt and the grief were just too raw. But now, to my own surprise, I found I could say her name without my eyes burning with unshed tears and a lump swelling up in my throat.

*EPOV*

When Bella had gone quiet on the way home, I feared that maybe I'd said something to trigger a painful memory. To hear that she had been so lost in thought thinking about her mother was something of a relief, but the relief was short-lived.

Because as I reminded myself, she wouldn't be grieving her mother if it weren't for me. No matter how many times Bella insisted that she made her own choices, I couldn't escape the reality that Bella never would've had to make that choice if not for me.

The Oxford Dictionary defines the butterfly effect as a phenomenon in which a small perturbation in the initial condition of a system results in large changes in later conditions. It is surmised that the flap of a butterfly's wing in the north can cause a tsunami in the south.

The scientific anomaly of my existence was the wing flap. And the total derailment of Bella's natural life was the tsunami of chaos it had wrought.

"Don't look like that. It's nothing bad," she promised coolly. "It's just…I think I can finally say that I forgive her. And myself for leaving her behind," she said, averting her gaze to pick at an imaginary hangnail.

I smiled, thinking to myself how she was probably the only vampire in existence who remained fidgety even after her transformation. I adored that little quirk about her.

"And what brought on that little epiphany?" I asked in a gentle voice, nudging her chin a little so that she would meet my gaze.

"I don't know exactly. I guess…I just can't help but feel that Renee's mistakes are what made us possible. And if that's true, then I can hardly keep holding a grudge, can I?" she reasoned thoughtfully.

"Explain that please," I asked, not sure that I was interpreting her words correctly. How did Renee get the credit (or the blame, depending on how you looked at it) for Bella and me being together?

"Well, for one thing, if her priorities weren't so screwed up, I never would have come to Forks to begin with. And well, if Renee hadn't been so caught up in herself…"

It was always amazing to me how many ways Bella knew how to say neglect without actually saying it, I thought despondently, watching her lips form the words as she looked anywhere else but at me.

"…I'm not sure I'd be the person you fell in love with. And maybe you wouldn't have been the person I was looking for, either," she said in a small voice, shrugging her shoulders.

"Maybe, maybe not," I replied with a shrug of my own. Then, playing devil's advocate, I pointed out something she might not have considered. "If your mother's priorities weren't so screwed up, she wouldn't have left Charlie and Forks to begin with. Maybe you would've grown up in Forks."

"Oh, yes she would have!" Bella disagreed with a vehemence that surprised me. "Hating Forks might've had something to do with it. But Charlie…is Charlie. And Renee is Renee. And I honestly can't think of two people who are worse for each other," she laughed lightly.

"He would have stifled her and she would have resented him. I've done the math a million times. There's no universe in which Charlie and Renee work out, and Charlie knew it, too," Bella concluded in a flat voice.

"Did he tell you that?" I asked in a gentle tone, though my voice burned with curiosity. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't imagine Charlie, a man who communicated mostly by grunting, opening up about such a painful time in his life.

"He didn't have to. Charlie didn't want to leave Forks with my m—with Renee–because he had his sick parents to care for. That's what he told me. But they both died within six months of Renee taking off.

"I saw the dates on the family tree Alice gave me when she dug up all that stuff about Dottie and Elijah Swan after you bumped into that distant relative of mine at the hospital fundraiser...

"What was to stop him from going after Renee then? No, Charlie knew it would never work." The minuscule tightening of Bella's eyes was the only outward indication that she was hurt, or even bothered by the knowledge.

And in such a cold, detached voice, when Bella cited Charlie's failure to go after Renee once he was unburdened by his family obligations, I got the sense that she wasn't really talking about Renee anymore.

My cold dead heart dropped into my stomach at the revelation. How long had she been keeping that to herself? I mentally flipped back the pages of the calendar.

The hospital fundraiser had been right around my birthday more than two whole months ago. She'd said nothing about it at the time as we poured over those old documents.

The discovery that one of the women I saved during my rebellious period had turned out to be Bella's great grandmother, and that my murderous ways had been directly responsible for Bella's birth had been a joyous albeit confusing time for me. After decades of hating myself for my monstrous nature and the human life I'd taken, I had total absolution.

All the while, Bella sat quietly by, contemplating Charlie's rejection of her as an infant entirely on her own, and surprising me with a fucking Ferrari while she was at it.

Would the universe ever stop disappointing this poor, sweet girl?! I inwardly lamented.

I had no words. Instead, I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her into a bone-crushing hug. I rocked her gently from side to side as I held her, stroking her hair and kissing the top of her head.

The hand I had pressed against her back balled into a fist as I deliberated, torn between being a supportive husband who validated my wife's feelings and one that defended Charlie, who may have not been perfect, but loved Bella as fiercely as I did.

I had spent so long being inside his head all those nights, holding Bella in my arms in her little purple bed. I could tell her things that, being such a private man, Charlie never could bring himself to say. But was it my place?

Charlie's thoughts weren't as clear to me as others. I suspected he was one of those rare beings that lacked an internal monologue. The inside of his mind was more like looking at a picture book than hearing a mental voice. Though the general direction of his thoughts was usually discernible, especially the stronger he felt about something.

I decided it didn't have to be one way or the other, I could attempt to be both.

"I wish you would've told me," I crooned into her hair, gently chiding. "You didn't have to be alone with that all this time," I told her as I rocked her.

"Sometimes it takes me a while to process things," she admitted into my chest. "I didn't want to be mad at my dad. I still don't."

She thought of the words she couldn't bear to say out loud. But why did it take him so long to figure out that he wanted me? We lost so much time…

I nodded in understanding. "You have every right to your feelings, Bella. You deserved better, from both of them. But can I offer a different perspective, since I've been inside his head and know what he thinks about when he lays awake, unable to sleep at night?"

"Ok," she mumbled in agreement, her face still buried in my chest.

"You. He thinks about you. He regrets things. A lot. And, Bella, from experience I can tell you that that kind of grief changes you. He was…very sad. For a long time. About losing your mom. About losing his parents. Losing you...

"And he didn't know how to be a father to you when he was still reeling from the loss of every person that meant anything to him in just a few months' time. Though it's no excuse…It takes him a long time to process things, too," I murmured into her hair.

She nodded against me and pulled away a few inches so she could look at me.

"Thank you. That helps. Would've been nice to hear from him, but Charlie's not that articulate, is he?" she snorted a little.

"No, he isn't," I agreed, shaking my head with a sympathetic smile.

"It was just kind of a shock to see the dates on the page. I think I grew up thinking he was at home taking care of his sick parents, and that's why he couldn't be with me.

"And then to find out that they died so quickly after Renee left…" she shook her head. "I'm guessing Renee just let me think that because it was easier than any other explanation…"

"It's a painful but normal part of growing up. Realizing our parents are just people. People who were young once and screw up and make poor choices just like anyone else," I sighed.

Bella inhaled deeply and blew it out through puffed-out cheeks. "I guess it doesn't make any sense making myself and Jasper miserable over ancient history," Bella muttered, sounding almost eager to dismiss her own feelings, to bury them if doing otherwise meant possibly burdening someone else.

"If you think nineteen years ago is ancient history, I hate to think of how you must regard me," I teased. "And don't you worry about Jasper. He's used to being around misery," I smirked. "He's had a lot of practice."

She smiled then, though it didn't reach her eyes.

Just then Rosalie loudly cleared her throat from where she was standing under the open garage door. The sunlight poured in from behind her, giving her silky golden hair a halo-like effect.

We both turned to look at her as she stood with one hand on her hip and the other pointing to a metal sign on the wall that read: "NO DRAMA ZONE. Violators will be bitch-slapped."

"We're going, we're going," Bella held her hands up in surrender and turned to leave, tugging me along behind her.

"There you two are!" Jasper called from the training field. "Oh, good! Nice and angsty! Now get out here and save it for the shield!" he coached and blew the whistle that hung around his neck. The one that Alice kept throwing away and he kept replacing.

Alice's teeth could be heard grinding together from where she stood conversing with Kate and Maisie, who had gravitated toward my sister with a mixture of curiosity and admiration upon learning of her near omniscience.

How nice for Alice, I thought wryly. When people learned of my gift, particularly women, I was often treated like some kind of a pervert caught with my hand in their underwear drawer. Alice, conversely, got treated like a prophet. Emmett didn't know how good he had it, I thought with a sigh.

Bella looked at me curiously and I shook my head, unwilling to explain.

Then, at the sudden sound of Alice's sharp gasp accompanied by her blank gaze, every vampire in the vicinity turned still and silent as marble statues as they waited with bated breath for whatever prophecy would come.

I watched the vision in real-time with my own eyes, letting out a gasp of my own.

"They're coming," Alice whispered, watching a sea of red and gray cloaks descend. "And not to watch a demonstration," she forewarned in a grave tone.

*A/N* Ugh, I know this chapter wandered so far off the path, I wasn't sure if I even wanted to include it. But I guess it sort of tracks that mama trauma can sneak up on you at odd times and for the oddest reasons.

Suffice it to say, the next chapter is already written. It just needs a final edit and will be posted soon, so I won't leave you dangling for long! I think I finally have a pretty good idea of how this standoff is going to go, so no more stalling! Til next time lovelies! And don't forget to toss a comment to your author! (Yes, that was a Witcher reference.) 😁